Prosthetic eye
An eye prosthesis , generally also called a glass eye or an artificial eye , is an elaborately manufactured aid as a cosmetic eye replacement that is used exclusively for restoring facial aesthetics and for medical care of the enucleated eye socket . Eye prostheses are individually made and adapted from special cryolite glass or plastic by extensively trained and certified eye prosthetists ( ocularists ) .
Manufacturing
The specialists who master this production have a long apprenticeship period of 6 to 7 years, which requires great artistic talent and manual skills. They are eyes Artist , Art Eyes manufacturer , Augenprothetiker or Okularisten called. Eye prostheses have been made entirely by hand in Germany for over 150 years . With regard to the manufacture of eye prostheses, the Thuringian town of Lauscha and its factories have played a leading role since the mid-19th century. The first German glass eye was also made here in 1835 (see: Glass eye from Lauscha ).
The artificial eye is shaped like a blown piece tube hollow sphere and is colored and made in detail to the remaining healthy eye, one that, in both senses of one during manufacture Art eye can speak. Every smallest detail of the iris , the coloring of the dermis ( sclera ), as well as the individual structure of the conjunctival vessels are applied to the artificial eye by means of melting, multi-colored glass rods by dabbing, wiping and threading. The viscous glass ball has the tendency to contract due to the surface tension, the tube has to be rotated constantly. The ball is held and shaped in the appropriate size by evenly heating with the fan burner flame and dosed blowing with the mouth.
Finally, large areas around the circumference of the sphere are softened by the heat of the flame and drawn in by suction, so that a rather small part of a hollow sphere, delimited by round curves, is a kind of shell with rounded borders that can be easily fitted into the eye socket.
The original facial harmony should be restored with the glass eye. The coloring and adaptation of the artificial eye is usually done in the presence of the patient. Nevertheless, the cause that led to the loss of the eye ultimately determines how good the patient's cosmetic appearance will be.
The surface of an artificial eye made of cryolite glass is very homogeneous and resistant, which is why it usually only needs to be replaced after about a year. Dust, dirt, environmental factors, changes in the tear fluid or organic disturbances can also wear out the smooth surface of the glass more quickly. The wear and tear of the surface and thus the aging process of the artificial eye can be felt by the patient through irritation of the eyelid . If an eye with a dull surface is not changed in time, this can lead to greater damage to the eye socket.
A glass eye is covered 100% by health insurance companies in Germany as a medical aid (with an additional payment of 10 euros per eye). The ocularist can make a glass eye in an hour. The costs are on average around 300 euros, depending on the degree of difficulty of individual coloring and anatomical adaptation.
Plastic eye prostheses, developed from the Second World War in the USA, also because the glass from Germany was no longer available, are made of acrylic glass (PMMA) by turning, milling, polishing, painting, but also melting and gluing. The production of a plastic eye prosthesis is more expensive than one made of glass, but it is unbreakable and, unlike glass, can be re-polished and otherwise reworked, so it is more durable overall.
Eye prostheses are medical products , meet the requirements of the Medical Devices Act and are subject to certain standards in various areas, such as biocompatibility (DIN EN ISO 10993-1: 1998-06, DIN EN ISO 10993-1 / 1: 1999-06).
Basics of care and cosmetic aspects
A medical indication for the adjustment of an artificial eye is usually the loss of an eye due to an accident, illness or a necessary surgical removal ( enucleation ). An eye prosthesis may also be necessary after tumor operations in which a lot of tissue has to be removed. In the case of defects in the neighboring facial areas, the eye prosthesis (in individual cases) must be combined with an epithesis (e.g. to replace parts of the nose).
Today's artificial eyes are usually deceptively similar to the appearance of a healthy eye. Due to the individual production and the use of modern surgical techniques when removing the eyeball, movement of the prosthesis, albeit limited, is possible, so that it can hardly be recognized by a layperson. Even some famous public figures are little known to have had prosthetic eyes.
history
The oldest known prosthetic eye is an artificial eyeball, which was found in Schahr-e Suchte in what is now Iran and has been dated to an age of 4800 years. The archaeologists found it in the grave of a 25-30 year old woman and suspect the material to be a mix of tar and animal fat .
The Egyptians, Chinese, Romans and Greeks also used precious and semiprecious stones, ivory, white feldspar, glass, porcelain and metal alloys to make eyes for statues, statuettes, mummies, masks, dolls and toy animals. 2000 years ago Fabri ocularii statuarum were already highly regarded in Rome. Even Aristotle (384-322. Chr.) Mentions puppets with moving eyes.
In the Middle Ages there were already “sub-eyes”, painted leather eyes that were worn over the eyelids and attached to the head with a spring wire. There were also “inlay eyes” made of gold or silver with an iris painted in enamel colors.
The first glass eyes were believed to have been made in Venice before Paris became the focal point for artificial glass eyes in the 17th century . In 1832, the Würzburg ophthalmologist Heinrich Adelmann (1807–1884) became aware of particularly successful Lauscha dolls and animal eyes, which were already mass-produced for toys at that time, but which have little in common with the artistic production of eye prostheses mentioned here. His impulse to develop glass eyes for people in Germany as well fell on fertile ground with the Thuringian glassmaker, artificial eye blower and pioneer of German eye prosthetics, Ludwig Müller-Uri (see: Glass eye from Lauscha ). That is why eye prostheses have been made from glass since 1835 and can be individually adapted to a patient's eye socket.
See also
- Ludwig Müller-Uri , glassmaker from Lauscha
- Retinal implant
The bionic eye , which appeared in 2017, is to be distinguished from the ocular prosthesis, which for others produces the image of an eye , which uses a camera to film the field of vision and stimulates the optic nerves in the eye socket so that the wearer can gain simple visual impressions after training.
Web links
- American Society of Ocularists
- Federal Association of Ocularists (DOG)
- Youtube: Manufacture of an eye prosthesis
Individual evidence
- ↑ Are Glass Eyes Really Made of Glass? - Jenny Geelen (?), Artificial Eye Services, in: "Can We Help", ABC - Australian Broadcast Corporation, June 20, 2008, on youtube.com from July 30, 2008
- ^ Albert J. Augustin: Ophthalmology . Springer Verlag, Berlin 2007. Page 694 ff. ISBN 978-3-540-30454-8
- ↑ 4800-Year-Old Artificial Eyeball Discovered in Burnt City , accessed June 27, 2013.
- ↑ Flashes of light and contours instead of total blindness orf.at, June 12, 2017, accessed June 12, 2017.
